Nope. Not Quasimodo. You thought about this creepy Disney character at first didn't you? If not, you are now. I recently came across another awesome technology find. It's UHHHHMAZING!

It's called Edmodo and it's basically like a G rated, non weird, useful version of Facebook... for your classroom. You can create a little online community and control everything from it! It has some really cool features:

badges - create and award special 'badges' for when students complete a project/unit

... and more!

This site is ideal for middle and high school teachers, but it may also work for intermediate elementary too. I'm not so sure it would work well for any younger students, but maybe?

Signing up is FREE and easy. You enter very little information... took me about 2 minutes! I've signed up and created a profile, but haven't had the chance to use it yet. Looks easy though! Instead of me trying to explain what it is, how about you watch their video... Enjoy. Click to go to their site. You might just love this!

Happy New Year!!! Can you believe it's 2012?! Crazy. I've been on hiatus from this blog for a few weeks. We traveled back to the US for almost three weeks (Christmas shenanigans) and there have been some other small trips and distractions. Sorry to my two followers. Haha. I know it will take time to get this thing going and I have a long list of blog topics ready to go. So here goes the first one in weeks. :)

I was recently going through some old photos of my class and came across these procedure picture rubrics. Say that five times fast. Call them what you want, but that's basically what they are... rubrics... created with pictures... for classroom procedures. I learned about this in a professional development series our district provided. The instructor showed us an example and I decided to try it out on my class. They LOVED making them and it made a couple of our routines run like clockwork.

Below are the two my kiddos used. "Ready to Go" was for anytime we lined up to go somewhere and "Ready to Learn" was for anytime we transitioned to our tables. Sorry for the poor quality pictures.

How to make them:

Pick a procedure (lining up, recess clean up, transitions, end of day, etc.). Only do a few 'big' procedures.... not everything.

Decide on a rating system (I did 1-5; 1=chaos, 5=perfect); I've seen some with 1,2,3 too.

Talk with students about what each step would look like (1 was a hot mess in our class, 3 was about half the class following directions, and a 5 was perfection)

Take pictures of each of the 'ratings.' The kids loved doing the #1 because they could be wild and do silly things in the photo (notice a couple kids laying on tables).

Print the pictures and mount them on a poster (include the rating #s on each picture and the title)

Put the poster wherever the procedure takes place. I put my "Ready to Go" poster on the door.

Implement and use hand signals (hold up number of fingers for their 'score') until they get to 5. I didn't have to say a word... just held up fingers. They got it. "Shhhhh! Sit down! We're only at a 3... look at Mrs. Hughes! She's waiting." :)

I did this in the middle of the year after I attended a workshop, but had I known about it sooner we would have done it the first week.

Let me know if you make some! They're great. Bon weekend! (means have a good weekend in French... my favorite phrase here in Swiz-land).

My board game boxes use to last no more than two weeks in the room. They got beat up. Quickly. I like how she put all the pieces in little plastic storage bins and labeled the boards. So nice! And it saves space.

I usually put game pieces in these little clear pencil case/bags. Walmart sells them for like a dollar each. I have about 300 (not kidding) in several different colors. I love them.

Either way you go, plastic bin or bag, it saves space and is super organized.

One of the most annoying 'chores' during my first year of teaching was managing that messy paint. I had these big cups with lids and matching paintbrushes (seen below), but it was inevitable that the colors would be mixed by 'that one kid' (you know which one) and then the whole giant cup of paint was ruined. Even when they used the correct brush with the correct cup, those kiddos who did the crazy-Picasso-helicopter-arm paintings managed to still mix colors. Grrrr.

Lakeshore $12.95

Although I loved the cups and concept, it was a little more mental stress than I wanted to dedicate to paint cups. I also had some overly picky girls who refused to use pink paint that had been tainted with a speck of brown. What to do?

Squirt bottles + ice cube trays = love

I can't tell you how much I love this. I found packs of these clear squirt bottles at Target in the kitchen supply area (a lot of other stores have them as well). I bought 12 and made sure I had enough for each color (including pink, skin colors, and gray). I also labeled the outside with the color names.

You could also opt for the cheaper (and disposable) version too...

I wanted to throw in an action shot of them and of course I can't find my picture... imagine the ones below... but larger... and all filled with paint. I'm so ashamed that I had to hunt for a picture. :(

Modern Teaching Aids ~$11

This was my 'helicopter arm' kid... possibly the most hilarious child I've met.

Why I love it:

less paint wasted

kids were independent and would only squirt out a little of each color they needed... then a little more if they needed it

less 'mixing' of colors

no dried up paint if we didn't use it during the week

I only needed to get the gallon size paint bottles out when the squirt bottles got low

Ice cube trays fit perfectly into the easel rack

CHEAP!!!

only one paintbrush needed per side... they rinsed with water in between color change

Science Connection: I only left the red, yellow, blue, white, and black bottles out when we learned about colors in science. They had to learn how to make their own green, orange, purple, pink, etc. Hahaha...... such a meanie.

I'm pretty sure it's not just me. Why do the black markers always seem to disappear or run out of ink MUCH earlier than the rest?! I can't stand it and I can't tell you how many times my kids would come up to me...

They all assumed I had a secret-magical-endless supply of black markers somewhere. Nope. Well... kind of.

Here's my fix:

Expo Markers: fat version

Expo Markers: Skinny version

Expo dry-erase markers! Or any off-brand version. Expo's were on the kid's school supply list and in abundance around our room. So, we used them for black marker replacements. You can buy them in bulk (skinny or fat tips) instead of buying a pack of markers for one black. I also used these all the time when I made posters. I like the using Expo's and the Mr. Sketch smelly ones (although I have a problem with those... especially the purple one... mmmmm delicious) a little more than Crayola. It seems to be a darker black? Maybe? Am I imagining things?

When I taught Pre-K and Kindergarten, I created 'class directories' each year. The kids used these mostly in the writing center when they wrote letters to one another (or to me). The little girl in the picture wrote me an interesting letter about unicorns and then used the directory to spell my name on the front of the envelope. For some reason, Hughes (my last name) is impossible for anyone under the age of 40 to spell... and for anyone under 6 to say.

This is so easy and cheap to make. Also, the kids are obsessed with looking at themselves and each other.

Hobby Lobby $4.99

How to make one:

1. Get a small photo album like the one to the left.2. Take pictures (head shots) of your kids.3. Use adjacent pages for each student (like mine pictured above). Picture on one side and their name on the other.4. Put it in your writing center (or another prominent place).

Obviously the kids have their names on the desks and other places around the room, but this little book was perfect for the writing center. It stayed in one spot all year. The kids didn't wander around the room looking for names or bothering other students to ask them how to spell their name. Perfect!

Other ideas:

use a binder with page protectors

make a laminated one (I used a photo album because it held up all year... got used a lot)